Cleveland: Bread Basket?

By Christopher Shea

Cleveland, of all places, could become nearly completely self-reliant as a food-producer if residents grew crops on deserted plots of land and on industrial rooftops, a new study finds.
The city currently provides about 0.1% of its own food*—and the typical item on a resident’s plate probably comes from 1,500 miles away, the researchers estimate.

Swathes of the city are “food deserts,” with few good options for buying fresh produce.

But Cleveland’s de-industrialization, which has opened up land in the city, provides opportunities, two scholars argue. They identify three dozen vegetables and 14 fruits suitable to the Ohio climate, and propose the introduction of chicken coops and honey-bee hives.

In the least intensive scenario they consider, which would require 80% of every vacant lot, Cleveland could provide from 22% to 48% of its own fruits and vegetables (depending on the farming techniques used), a quarter of its own eggs and poultry, and all its own honey, they estimate.

In the most intense scenario, which would use 80% of every vacant lot, 9% of every occupied residential lot, and 62% of every industrial and commercial rooftop, Cleveland could produce as much as 100% of its fruit and vegetables, 94% of its eggs and poultry, and 100% of the honey.

Produce would be better than what Clevelanders now eat, and $29 million to $115 million food dollars would stay in the city rather than flow out of it, the researchers say.